Thinking about selling

General
1

Hi guys,

I’ve been doin some thinkin and since I’ve got my license and a '91 Mazda Miata I’m thinking I might sell my learner (Torker LX) and trials (Koxx one Black Domina II) I haven’t been uniing for all that long, about two years now, and don’t want to regret selling my rides, but the miata is calling me to customize and upgrade. I need your guy’s opinions. I also still have to pay for the car.
I know this is kind of a silly thread but carries a serious question.
I wouldn’t get rid of my MUni (29" Drak) because I really like muniing.

Thanks guys

2

Just remember you asked…

First, it’s a car. Cars are transportation to get you and your gear from point A to point B. To consider a car any other way is silliness.

Cars don’t have feelings.
Cars do not provide a means of exercise.
Cars expend non renewable and expensive resources.
Cars get old, and they older they get the more they need n terms of maintenance. Fix a car up and like a house it will need constant refurbishing.

Prior to age sixteen I was a bike rider, BMX and road biking, then when I turned sixteen I became a gear head. I spent countless hours and thousands of dollars on cars. My first car was a 1969 Triumph Spitfire, SCCA prepped, later I owned a couple other Triumphs, a few muscle cars, and some four wheel drives.

When I decided to get serious about college in my early twenties, I gave up cars, got back to the basics, five years on a bike without a car. I spent all of my free time traveling and riding. When I finally finished college a decade later, I had grown out of a cars.

I rarely work on cars now, though I can do anything from build motors to body work, but I don’t have the time or interest to do so, so I buy cars that go and need nothing.

If you took the time and money you’re planning to invest in that Miata and put them into your riding, think of what you could do.

Cars are not a hobby, they teach you nothing, it is a material object whose purpose has been distorted by the media to encourage people to buy.

Don’t be a sucker, put your time and money into a real hobby that will advance your mind and body.

Because of my “wasted youth” I would not let my kids repeat my mistake, so instead they spend time with friends, play sports, do normal stuff versus wasting countless hours on meaningless toys.

FYI, selling your unicycles will count as a grain of sand when it comes to fixing up that Miata. A good set of tire will run you $500 and they’ll wear out in a couple years. If you want to take the smart route, I’d suggest selling the Miata, get a car that can carry gear and gets good mileage, then take the extra cash and set it aside for travel, riding, etc…

3

I agree with Ben. My stepson is 22, a couple of years ago he bought a used VW GTI… very used. He then proceeded to dump a crapload of $ into it tricking it out. He then got a job that required him to have a reliable car so bought a much newer GTI that didn’t need any tricking out. He went to sell the older tricked out ride and couldn’t sell it for anywhere close to what he needed to get out of it. It’s a year later and he still has it :frowning:

There are VERY FEW exceptions to what you can dump into a car that are worth it, stick to keep it running reliably and you are safe. Selling your uni’s to trick out your car doesn’t make sense. First selling them, you won’t get what they are worth (loss #1), then dumping that into your car (loss#2) which you won’t get back.

I know it’s not what you want to hear, but it’s from lots of experience. If you do decide to sell, you will kick yourself in 10 or 15 years for doing it. You are ahead of the game for asking, and I think if you thought selling them was the right choice you wouldn’t have asked. You are a smart kid, stick with your gut instinct. :slight_smile:

4

I agree with the advice above, but just for the practicality of it. You won’t get enough money out of selling unis to do anything significant with the car. I think messing with cars is a legitimate hobby; lots of people enjoy it. However, it is a very expensive hobby, and you should never expect to get your money back out of it. Hate to break it to you, but if you have to think about selling unis to fund car tweaks, you really can’t afford the car stuff.

5

I agree with the advice above, but just for the practicality of it. You won’t get enough money out of selling unis to do anything significant with the car. I think messing with cars is a legitimate hobby; lots of people enjoy it. However, it is a very expensive hobby, and you should never expect to get your money back out of it. Hate to break it to you, but if you have to think about selling unis to fund car tweaks, you really can’t afford the car stuff.

6

You bought a car that was named after a unicycle*. Even if you didn’t know that, there’s something subliminal going on there. Miatas are fun to drive, but you have to decide between bringing a unicycle or a passenger! At least without a rack, that is.

You can always buy more unicycles in the future, but they’ll probably cost more than whatever you can collect by selling your current ones.

In my youth I didn’t fix up my cars much, but I bought stupid ones that were a pain to take care of. Look up a Honda 600N if you’re bored. I could never get parts for it! But event though it was smaller than the Miata you could fit two people and two unicycles inside. :slight_smile:

*Miyata is a Japanese bicycle company that started around 1896 or so. In the late 80s, when Mazda decided to call their MX-5 the Miata (in the US at least), Miyata was the top unicycle brand in the world; very popular with the Freestyle and Track crowd (Note there was no MUni, Road, Trials, Street or Flat crowd). Today, outside of Japan the Miyata unicycle is no longer relevant, as there are many other high-quality brands to choose from. Disclaimer: I don’t know how the Mazda folks chose the Miata name, but I will tend to think it was because they liked the name of that long-respected Japanese bike company.

7

Probably not the best idea to sell your unicycles to trick out your car but to each their own.

If you wanna sell the Drak by any chance shoot me a PM, I’ll make a good offer on it.

8

I would definitely agree with everyone on this one, except for the above. I think you will kick yourself a lot sooner than 10-15 years, maybe even within 5.

Cars are a money pit to begin with, not to mention adding stuff that is not worth anywhere near what it costs. If you have a $5000 car that runs, add $5000 worth of flashy customizations (which isn’t really a whole lot of stuff, car-wise), you still have a $5000 car that does the exact same thing it did before you dumped $5000 in it. You will NEVER get the money you put into it back.

Selling your unicycles to trick out your car is like selling your cow for a bunch of useless beans.

That’s my “responsible father” moment of the day. I’ll go back to being the “care-free unicyclist” now :smiley:

9

Now here’s an idea,
Sell the car and trick out the unicycles

Titanium mmmmmmmm

Schlumpf mmmmmmmm

10

Being in an FSAE team I have to agree with the general consent here. Road vehicles are for transporting tools, test equipment and supplies. They should be reliable, offer sufficient storage and not use too much fuel.

After you built a car from scratch with 85HP that weighs less than 200kilos and goes from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds, you just don’t see much value in these road tanks any more.

11

Selling a unicycle? I don’t understand the concept!

Jerry

12

I’d also like to say that, although I’m about your age, I know that you probably can’t afford to deal too much in your car endeavors. It’s an expensive hobby; sure, you may find it fun and relaxing, but it’s not practical for you right now.

There’s college to save for and school to think about. Unicycling is a fun and fulfilling pastime that you should embrace as something that is easy to maintain and unique to you.

13

I’ve never understood folks that put a lot of money into cars. They are expensive and almost always lose value very quickly. Just find a car that works and keep it maintained. You’ll have a lot more money for things that are productive, like unicycling.

Plus the ladies dig it. You know what they say about a man with refined balance…

14

Thanks for all of your responses. And I think that the fluke has been pushed out.
I do realize now that maybe $350 dollars is not going to make a difference, besides that I would be able to get a pretty nice rollbar for my car.
I don’t think I’ll be selling anything. The miata is a very reliable car (my sister’s '91 has 150,xxx miles on it) (Dad’s has 100,xxx on) (mine has 72,xxx) with good gas mileage (30mpg in town). As for storage I can throw one of my 20" in the trunk with gear (shin pads, helmet, and camelback) and if my top is down can strap the 29" behind the seats. Since it’s always pretty nice weather here I can be down a lot of the time.
But thanks for making sure that I didn’t sell my unis, and for all the fatherly advice. However I do still want to dump a little money into it. Especially since I’m getting it for cheap. My grandfather wants to just give it to me (he pretty much bought for me when he saw it on craigslist) but my parents are making me pay for it. I heartily agree with them since paying for something yourself makes you take much better care of it. But I still get a big discount, like only paying for a fourth of what it’s worth. I have the other 3/4 to do whatever. Therefore I still sell it for what I got it for.

Who said they didn’t like miatas?

Perhaps my lego collection can go…

15

Another view

I had a 94 Miata that I sold to help purchase an even more impracticle sports car. I wish I had kept it. It was a great car that was fun to drive, got good mileage and was cheap to maintain. Nothing went wrong with it for the 13 years I owned it and it put a smile on my face every time I drove it. That being said, I wouldn’t sell my unis to get money to work on it. My Miata was pretty good just the way it came. Just keep it running and enjoy the unis too.

16

Selling your uni’s is bad, selling your lego’s is blasphemy.

17

I’d have to agree with Mr. Deschain above (Killian). I miss my lego :(.
Just recently bought a Raspberry Pi (if anyone here knows what I’m talking about) and wanted to make a case out of lego.

Anyways, back on topic. I totally understand wanting to throw some money at it. And take advantage of it while you can. Once you get into the working world, and especially the family world, that disposable income will not be there anymore. Make sure you are responsible with some of it, and try to save some, but enjoy a little bit too while you can.

18

Of course you do!

I still have the occassional dream of fixing up a car/truck, BUT the difference between me now and me back then is that I have learned to make wise choices.

My son is the same age as you, he drives a POS Honda CRV, fade red, covered in dents from multiple hail storms, a big fluffy “mustache” on the front, tape player (no disc). His only consolation was the mustache, so how could I say no?

He works on occasion, saves up his spare change, but what he does with the money is go out to the movies, have lunch off campus, buy ITunes, get the occassional t shirt, so spreading his pocket change around and spending time with friends.

Your Miata is a nice little car. It will serve you well as it is. Any money you put into the Miata is the same as driving down the road with the top down and throwing the money up in the air.

A rollbar, that makes sense, tell your family that your life is at risk without a rollbar since a Miata has no roof to protect your head/neck in a rollover. My wife likes convertibles and I insist that she have a rollbar, just like a helmet for riding.

But, there is nothing else you can afford to add to that car that will make it ride better, go faster, or handle nicer.

So I asked my son to define wisdom: “Wisdom is knowledge that comes from experience”. With that in mind, there are two ways to become wise:

  1. You can become wise by learning from your mistakes OR
  2. You can become wise from learning from other people’s mistakes.

This is your choice(s).

19

Ben, I think I need to balance some of your wisdom. I just spent a couple hundred dollars to upgrade a brake on a unicycle that already had a decently functional brake. Will I ever get that money back out of the uni? No way. Do I need a new brake, a brake at all, or even a uni? No. In fact, I even voided any warranty on the uni frame by grinding it to make the upgrade fit. What percentage of the money have you gotten back on the various uni gear you’ve switched out over the last couple years? There are more people in the world - even old, wise ones - who would argue my money would have been better spent on some bling for my truck, than those who would understand the value of the uni to me.

The resounding response to the original question is No, do not sell unis for money to spend on car stuff, which I absoutely agree with. But if OP has some other money available, car stuff isn’t always the wrong choice. Even if some of the purchases lead to regret, they would still have value in the lesson. Not all wisdom can be gained from others’ experiences (I think I learned that bit of wisdom from my father :wink: ).